William and Mary's offense dries up against Virginia Commonwealth

Melinda WaldropDaily Press

Facing its toughest conference road test of the season, William and Mary got just two points from its second-leading scorer and no offensive flow for most of the game in an 81-59 loss to VCU on Wednesday night at the Siegel Center.

Tribe sophomore forward Quinn McDowell, averaging 15.4 points per game, had just two on 1-of-9 shooting, and the Tribe was held 15 points below its season average in losing for just the second time in its last 16 games.

"We took a whooping, that's for sure," Tribe coach Tony Shaver said. "I didn't think we played very well, and they played exceptionally well. We played their pace."

William and Mary (14-4, 6-2 CAA), leading the Colonial Athletic Association with a 38.8 shooting percentage from 3-point range and second in the league with 74.4 points per game, shot just 7-of-27 from long range and trailed by double digits for most of the second half.

"We talked about having an urgency to close out on them, because they have five guys that can shoot," said VCU junior guard Joey Rodriguez, who matched 6-foot-11 Rams center Larry Sanders with a team-high 18 points and è had 10 assists.

"That's how they've been hurting teams all season, so we had to be on guard every possession," Sanders said.

The Tribe, led by junior forward Marcus Kitts' career-high 16 points and 11 rebounds, came into the game having matched the best start in the program's 105-year history and looking for its first regular-season win at VCU since the 1999-00 season. But VCU's tight man-to-man defense and full-court press harassed William and Mary shooters for much of the night as the Rams (13-4, 5-3 CAA) avenged a 75-74 loss in Williamsburg on Dec. 5 and won their fourth straight game.

"Our feeling was that they were going to be ready to play us, and kind of be out for revenge, too," said Tribe senior forward Danny Sumner, who scored a game-high 20 points. "We knew it was going to be a tough game. It's a very hostile environment to play in, and I think we kind of let that affect us a little bit."

Sumner's slam pulled William and Mary, down by as many as 11 in the first half and by five at halftime, to within 33-31 early in the second. But the Rams got a three-point play from Jamie Skeen and a 3-pointer from Brandon Rozzell to push their lead back to eight.

Terrance Saintil's tip-in made it a 47-34 lead with 12:43 to play, and the lead reached 15 on Saintil's steal and one-handed slam a minute-and-a-half later.

Shaver tried a 30-second timeout and a lineup that included reserve point guard Kendrix Brown and freshman backups Matt Rum and Kyle Gaillard, but William and Mary, which opened the game 2-of-11 from the floor and 0-for-4 from 3-point range, couldn't find any consistent offense.

"We missed so many first-half shots that we are capable of making and usually do make," Shaver said. "There were certainly possessions where they made us take shots we didn't want to take."

Back-to-back 3-pointers from Bradford Burgess and Ed Nixon, sandwiched around Burgess' emphatic block of David Schneider's layup, put the Rams up 57-38 with 9:35 to play and brought the sellout crowd of 7,524 at the Siegel Center to its feet. The lead stretched to 20 with 4:13 to play.

Schneider finished with 15 points for the Tribe, which must rebound on Saturday at home against Old Dominion (15-5, 7-1 CAA). The Monarchs remained tied atop the league standings with a 68-49 win at Delaware.

"This is a huge week for us," Kitts said. "There's some pressure, (but) we responded really well after the UNC Wilmington (loss on Jan. 4), so I believe we'll come back real strong."zVCU 81, WILLIAM AND MARY 59